Modao Camp has only 500 people and little actual combat experience. It is currently a semi-finished product.
Five hundred swordsmen, plus more than four thousand ordinary soldiers, are all the power Li Qinzai can use now.
Fortunately, he no longer had any worries. Li Ji was forcibly taken away, and Xiao Baga and the goddess doctor had to leave with him. At this moment, apart from some food, grass and baggage, there were only five thousand soldiers and horses left in the camp.
Outside the camp, scouts were constantly coming and going.
After one scout team died in battle, Li Qinzai sent out several more scout teams to report the enemy's movements every once in a while.
As more and more intelligence came out about the enemy, Li Qinzai's mood became heavier and heavier.
This 20,000-strong enemy force was actually all cavalry. The scouts observed closely and reported that the cavalry only wore simple leather armor, and their weapons were varied and not uniform.
Judging from their hairstyle and skin color, they don't seem to be Goguryeo people, but more like herder tribes from the north, such as the Mohe tribe, the Sumo tribe, the Shiwei tribe, the Xi tribe, etc.
Long before the Eastern Expedition, the Tang Dynasty had collected a lot of information about Goguryeo, including possible allies of Goguryeo.
Unfortunately, these northern tribes are all connected with Goguryeo. When Li Ji led the main force to confront the Goguryeo army on the west bank of the Liao River, the Goguryeo army included allies from various northern nomadic tribes.
Later, in the attack on Xincheng and Liaodong City, various northern tribes participated. They became allies with Goguryeo and jointly resisted the Tang army.
But later the Tang army won many battles and won many victories. Not only the Goguryeo army was crippled and dispersed, but the allied forces of the northern tribes were also crippled.
At that time, Li Ji judged that the remaining soldiers had fled in all directions, and pursuit would undoubtedly be time-consuming and laborious, and would delay the opportunity for fighting, so he ordered the Tang army to withdraw.
Li Qinzai did not expect that these tribes actually had soldiers and horses, and they were full-fledged cavalry.
Nomadic tribes have been good at fighting since ancient times, especially cavalry. Li Qinzai's five thousand soldiers had to face 20,000 nomadic tribesmen's cavalry.
This will be a tough battle.
"Leave the camp and march to the northeast to meet the enemy." Li Qinzai ordered.
In fact, he could choose to retreat, but this option was ruled out by Li Qinzai.
Li Ji is still on the way to retreat. If Li Qinzai's five thousand soldiers withdraw, it will undoubtedly bring huge trouble to Li Ji.
More importantly, the main force of the Tang Army was marching towards the City of Humiliation. If they were overtaken by the 20,000 cavalry, Qi Bi Heli would be trapped in a desperate situation, and the Eastern Expedition might end in failure again.
Therefore, Li Qinzai had to choose to fight the enemy head-on.
He and the five thousand soldiers under his command were a barrier to protect the safety of Li Ji and Qi Bihe Li's army.
This enemy force must stay here and cannot be allowed to take another step forward.
After counting the number of people, Li Qinzai called over two generals, Liu Renyuan and Pei Zhengqing.
In a critical moment, these two are the only ones who can use it easily.
Twenty thousand enemy troops are about to arrive, and how to defend them is a big problem.
An ambush was not feasible. The Tang army had set up a large camp near the water plain. The surrounding terrain was a rare plain area in Goguryeo, so it was not suitable for an ambush.
A frontal formation won't work either. The firearms of the Tang army are no longer a secret. The defenders of Bobi City can produce thickened shields, so this enemy army is also possible.
"How many mines are left behind the camp?" Li Qinzai asked.
Liu Renyuan said: "General Qibi took away most of them, and now there are only a few hundred landmines left in the camp."
Li Qinzai sighed. Hundreds of mines seemed like a lot, but they were not enough in front of thousands of troops.
"Line up five miles to the northeast and bury all the mines before the enemy arrives."
Liu Renyuan accepted the order and left.
Li Qinzai looked at Pei Zhengqing with complicated eyes and sighed: "General Pei, we are going to use Modao Camp today."
Pei Zhengqing grinned: "We have been training for a long time, and the soldiers are eager for a battle."
Li Qinzai smiled bitterly. The original intention of setting up Modao Camp in the Japanese country was to buy insurance for the entire army. At a critical moment of life and death, Modao Camp was the final trump card.
Today it's finally time to use your trump card.
But everyone knows very well that once Modao Battalion is used, the casualties of Modao Battalion must be very heavy, five hundred to twenty thousand, this is a life for a life.
Pei Zhengqing smiled innocently, as if he had never thought about the fate that Mo Daoying might face next.
Li Qinzai was silent for a moment and whispered: "...We cannot let the 20,000 enemy troops pass."
Pei Zhengqing nodded: "The general understands that Modao Camp from the bottom down will fight to the death to protect the back of our main army."
Li Qinzai also smiled: "I will fight to the death with you and never retreat a step."
The situation is very serious, but fortunately, the soldiers under his command are loyal and brave people who can trust them with their backs.
"The whole army leaves the camp and marches!"
…………
The sky is already slightly bright, and the fish belly is already white in the east.
Five thousand soldiers left the camp and marched to the northeast five miles away.
Hundreds of soldiers have arrived in advance and are sweating profusely digging holes and burying mines.
Li Qinzai looked around and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Most of Goguryeo is mountainous, but he encountered this plain area.
The plain area is more suitable for the enemy's cavalry charge, but as most of the Tang army is infantry, they can only choose to form a frontal formation to face the enemy.
The enemy came so suddenly that Li Qinzai had no time to find another battlefield, so in a hurry he could only choose to fight on the plains.
Li Qinzai always felt that he had been plagued by bad luck recently, otherwise he would not have been so unlucky because of the right time, place and people.
After calculating the distance to lay the mines, Li Qinzai ordered five thousand soldiers to form an array 200 steps away from where the mines were laid.
The Modao Battalion stayed in the rear. Once the enemy broke through the phalanx in front, the Modao Camp would be the last line of defense.
Teams of scout Pegasus shuttled between the Tang army's formations, reporting the enemy's latest movements.
The air was filled with a tense and solemn atmosphere. As the enemy troops got closer and closer, this tense and solemn atmosphere became stronger and stronger.
"Instruct the whole army to prepare swords and halberds in addition to firearms. If firearms are not available, use swords and halberds to kill the enemy. I hope the soldiers have not lost their ability to kill the enemy with swords and halberds."
Half an hour later, Li Qinzai suddenly felt the ground shaking slightly. The scouts came on flying horses to report that 20,000 enemy troops had arrived, and the enemy's forward was less than three miles away.
Li Qinzai looked at Liu Renyuan and said, "Leave the task of arranging the troops to you, I won't interfere."
Liu Renyuan solemnly clasped his fists and accepted the order.
Soon, some sparse figures appeared at the end of the plain, and then the figures became more and more numerous and denser.
Flag after flag appeared in Li Qinzai's sight, and the flags were embroidered with strange totems of teeth and claws.
The flag was surrounded by cavalry wearing simple leather armor and holding various weapons, which looked chaotic.
But Li Qinzai did not dare to underestimate this seemingly ragtag cavalry. He knew very well that this enemy army was very deadly.